So when police found the two of them shot to death Friday afternoon in an apparent murder-suicide, her grandfather was shocked and devastated.

“I couldn't believe it, that both of them are gone,” said Larry Burns, 79. “The kid, too. It's just too much to understand.”

Burns said Lee was his only granddaughter, and Dominic was his only great-grandson.

Family members said they had not heard from Lee since Tuesday. Lee's mother — Burns' daughter Diane Lee — went to Lee's home in the 200 block of Kelsey Avenue on the Southwest Side around lunchtime Friday and found it locked.

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Recent cases

A parent killing a child and committing suicide has happened only a few times here in recent years.

2010: Mother Sheena Griffin, 36, shot herself and her two sons, 8 and 9, then set the house in West Bexar County on fire.

2007: Salvador Peralta killed his daughters, 6 and 13, and himself.

2006: Lani Carr shot her former live-in boyfriend; her two children, 6 and 10; and herself at their home on the East Side.

Lee's mother circled around to the window of a rear bedroom and saw Lee and her son lying dead, said San Antonio Police Chief William McManus.

Burns was calling bingo at a VFW post while his daughter went to check on Lee and her son.

“Then when she called back, she said they were both dead,” Burns told reporters. “I wasn't sure that she said that.”

Lee and her son had apparently been shot once each, McManus said. A handgun was found at the scene.

McManus and Burns said they did not know of any possible motive.

“We will conduct a full investigation,” McManus said.

Burns said Lee and her son moved into the four-plex about a year and a half ago.